Chapter 17. Brotherhood

Silence overtook the brothers as they relaxed in eachother company.

They could only see eachothers shadows as they say in the hot spring with heavy steam and mist.

"Asafa..." Simba said with a low tone.

"Yes brother?"

"..."

Feeling that they couldn't see eachothers faces, made it easier for Simba to speak about something that had been on his mind and chest.

"Thank you..."

"...it should be me thanking you instead." Asafa answered, feeling like the grateful one should be him, not Simba.

"No, you don't get it... After kill.... Losing our father, I could see no light after that, if I didn't have you by my side..." Simba couldn't continue his sentence, but nothing needed to be said more, as Asafa understood.

"I can only say the same, the world doesn't feel as lonely when I have you by my side." Asafa admitted.

They had never opened up like this before, maybe it was the heat getting to their heads, maybe it was the fact that they couldn't see eachothers faces which made it a bit anonymous and made them a bit braver.

"Even with the others, Timon, Pumba, Imani and Hamu, I will eternally be thankful for them... But having your blood, your kin, your brother beside you... I have no words, thank you Asafa."

The guilt of believing that he had killed his father, was a heavy burden to carry, but having Asafa by his side, eased the pain.

"Simba, there might come a day, when we may not be beside each other... But know this, even if I'm not right by your side, I'll always be by on your side." Asafa said, fearing a fateful day when Simba will take his place in the pride lands.

Asafa could hear his brother change from a relaxed position to serious one.

"Asafa.... Promise that you won't leave my side." Simba said, not liking the tone of his brother.

"..."

"Promise!" He said slightly anxious.

"... I promise that you'll always find me under the trees of this Forrest!" Asafa said, playing with his words and feeling slightly guilty about it.

Simba seemed to relax once again.

"How do you think... The others are doing?" Simba asked.

"They are probably telling tales of their brovado before we met each other." Asafa said, thinking that Simba was asking about Timon, Pumba, Imani and Hamu.

"Oh.. yeah probably." Simba didn't explain what he meant, feeling that it was unnecessary to ask about their past lives.

Silence took over once again as they both relaxed.

After a long while, Asafa yawned and stretched.

"These so called hotsprings are really as good as Timon and Pumba claimed!" Asafa said with a sleepy tone.

"..."

"Brother?" Asafa found that his brother had fallen asleep.

Just as he was about to wake him up, he stopped.

His nose had picked up a weird smell, a burnt, sulfur like smell.

"What's this?" He whispered as he tried to look around.

But because of the mist and steam it was impossible to see anything, and the sky had started to darken.

Asafa got a weird feeling, he started to feel anxious.

"Simba! Wake up!" He suddenly got to his brother and pushed him awake.

"Ah what's going on, why did you wake me!" Simba complained with grogginess.

"I think we should get back to the others." Asafa said.

"I want to sleep a bit more!" He said.

Before they could continue debating, they both suddenly felt an intense shake. It was if the earth had erupted in rage as a powerful earthquake shock the very mountain they stood on.

Both instantly got out of the HOTSPRING but they could barely find their footing as both fell down. The earthquake was that powerful.

"We need to get down this mountain!" Asafa shouted.

"You don't say!" Simba responded.

"Now is not the time to be a smart ass!" Asafa got irrated.

They could barely move as the volcano shock so fiercely.

Finally when the shaking receded slightly could they try to escape, but before they could run far, both felt an ominous heat coming from above.

Looking up, they couldn't see clearly because of the steam and mist, but they could figure out what was going on.

The mist had darkened as a black smoke seemed to mix into the mist. And from within it, one could see a red glow, flowing down the mountain.

Both Simba and Asafa's eyes widened in horror and their hearts almost stopped.

"It's a volcanic eruption, RUN!" Asafa shouted as they awoke form their stupor.

The lava was flowing down the mountain like a river, or a furious beast charging at them in hunger to consume them.

Both ran as fast as they could, but it wasn't very fast since the volcano was violently shaking and the path was steep.

Simba was behind his brother and they went down as fast as they could, both looked worried and extremely focused as they concentrated on where they should put their next paw.

As Asafa ran first, he suddenly felt the ground shake heavily and a rift started opening right In front of him.

Instinctively, he jumped towards the other end, when he landed he turned around to see if his brother could make it as the rift grew bigger and bigger.

"HURRY, YOU CAN MAKE IT!" Asafa shouted in worry.

Simba had stopped, because when he reached it, the rift had become wide, just as he was about to jump before it grew too wide, magma burst out of the rift.

The magma started flowing down towards Asafa, forcing him to reluctantly back down further from the rift.

Simba saw how his brother didn't want to leave him, but had no other choice he shouted "Asafa, runs down, I'll find another path!"

Time was running out, lava was flowing down like a river from the top of the volcano, and now a rift opened up between them and another smaller river of lava started flowing, splitting them apart further.

Simba turned to another path and started running as fast as he could.

It didn't take long for Asafa before he couldn't see his brother as dark smoke had replaced the former mist.

"SIMBA!" Asafa roared for his brother in absolute horror and worry.

The lava continued flowing down, forcing Asafa to continue his sprint down. There was still a long way to go since they had climbed very high on the mountain.